Impromptu English Grammar Lesson

I made a recent trip to Kisumu to visit some friends this past weekend to get away from school for a short time. I was meeting a friend at the sports grounds in Kisumu so I found a place to sit in the shade till I got a call from her. At one entrance, the one where I was sitting, there is roughly 10 express passport photo stands just seconds walk from one another. While waiting I began to read and noticed something peculiar about the signs advertising for passport photo printing. Most of the signs had the same message, but their were three that caught my attention. Express Passport Size Digital In 10 Minutes,” “Express Passport Size and Photos After 10 minutes”, , and finally “Passport Size Express Digital For 10 minutes.”

After reading the signs I knew I had to take a picture of each. When I got to the last one “...for 10 minutes” the gentlemen manning the station asked what I was doing. I informed him of the different signs and the different meaning of each. I then broke his heart and told him his sign is just wrong. It is very bad English and makes no sense. You could say, express photos for shilingi hamsini (50 kenyan shillings). I then showed him the other two signs and explained the difference. Not to long after that, every man that has a express photo booth was standing around listening to my explanation for what is proper English grammar. One gentlemen spoke up and said, “which of the other two are best?” I then replied by explaining what each of them means before giving an opinion. “In 10 minutes” means that the photos will be finished between 1 and 10 minutes. Your window for doing this work is very short. The other sign that said “After 10 minutes” means that the pictures will be finished AFTER 10 minutes. This could mean 11 minutes, 12 minutes, 20 minutes, 2 hours or Christmas. This phrase does not give a parameter when it will be finished. 

After explaining each in detail they wanted to know which of the two was the best. I told them “In 10 minutes” and “after 10 minutes” are correct. The gentlemen insisted on knowing which is best so the customers would pick that one. I said using “In 10 minutes” tells the customer it will get finished fast, under 10 minutes. 

While I am writing this recap of the event I am noticing that as a whole, all three signs have bad English aside from the “in, after and for.”

This was definitely a fun experience. I wonder when I go back if any of the signs will be changed.

Remedial/Special Needs

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Another teaching year at Mumias Deaf Primary is underway and there are a few changes to my teaching schedule. This year I have the challenge of teaching remedial/special needs in class 0. I did not put in a request to teach this class, but somewhere along the way I was selected to co-teach with a fellow teacher. 

During a staff meeting last year it was a consensus at the time that the panel heads of each department (ie, math, science etc) would choose teachers to teach the subjects. The selection was based on merit and discretion of the panel heads. On the day of selection I was looking forward to teaching math to class 5 because I taught them in class 4. I waited to here my named called, but it was not in the cards for any subject not just math. As you can probably guess I was confused, agitated, a little irate amongst other feelings. I expressed my feelings to the staff and administration. The response as I stated before, selection was based on merit. This was not sufficient for me. I swallowed my pride and in hopes things might change in the coming days. Well, nothing changed. I was placed in remedial/special needs class 0. I know with out a doubt I can sleep peacefully because I gave 100% last year and the kids improved. Maybe I will not understand the reasoning, but I know what I did and will stand by that.

Teaching remedial class is nothing but a challenge. As the name implies there are kids that need special attention. I was used to that last year, but somehow this seems like running up a wet grassy hill with traction less shoes. I made up my mind to put my heart into it and see what happens. In light of my lack of experience in this arena I have asked a fellow volunteer, Mary, to come visit for a week 14 February to 18th to assist in anyway possible. I am so looking forward to her visit. 

Suggestions for teaching Remedial/Special Needs????

In other news I am starting to draw/paint world map project. Numerous other PCVs have completed this at their school so I thought it would be good to be done at my school as well. The project as name implies is a large painting of the world with all of the countries. It will be painted on the outside of one of the classrooms. After a very slow start to the project, I am getting underway today. The map final size will be 308 cm by 616 cm, this is huge and thus a ladder is required. I really don’t like ladders at all. I will fake it for the duration of the project so the kids will have something very nice at their school to learn from. I will update with pictures along the way.

Finally today I have some tentative exciting news. I heard from a fellow volunteer about the World Congress World Federation of the Deaf Conference in South Africa, July 2011. This conference happens once every 4 years all over the world. For the first time ever it is being held in Africa. People from around the world deaf and hearing will meet in Durban, South Africa for one week to learn about deaf culture with one focus being on developing countries, ie. Kenya—in my case. Among the many topics covered from different presenters there are 4 main focus areas: deaf education, sign languages and studies, developing countries, and human rights.

  

I am mentioning this information because I am very much interested in going. I can not think of a better way to establish friendships and contacts from other deaf people and organizations from around the world than by attending this conference basically in my backyard. I have for sometime now contemplated other avenues of work and/or direction with the deaf community, but have not gotten very far besides Special Olympics (which I assisted with while in South Carolina) and being a deaf education teacher (I am doing that right now). A deaf teacher colleague at my school has expressed interest as well. For now, I am waiting on feedback from Peace Corps whether I can go. I am confident in a yes. When I hear something I will post.